Description

The most noticeable change in the fourth main game in the series comes through the new graphics, now in full 3D. The basic goal remains the same: build the ultimate city. You do this by balancing funding of community services with taxes, transit fares, and other forms of income.

But now you have more options. The new god mode tools allow you to sculpt a realistic terrain in seconds. And now disasters won't happen in random locations, you choose where to unleash them. There are all new buildings, and the gameplay is a bit more challenging this time: you have to actually start small, the way a real city is developed, or you'll run out of money. You can also import people from The Sims and insert them into your city, and have them give you feedback.

Your advisors are improved. They too are in full 3D, and they won't annoy you as much. They will provide you with helpful advice, and you can listen to them or annoy them to the point that they all turn into llamas. Literally.

SimCity 4 also lets you control your neighboring cities. Low demand for industry? Go next door and build some houses. Then connect the two cities with roads, and soon residents of your neighbor will want jobs. The game stays true to its predecessors, while adding new features and improvements.

Bi-plane - Bring your skies to life with the sound of propeller-driven aircraft.

Vintage Cars - Add some early automotive style to your city streets.

Air Force Game Reward - Featuring new military aircraft that fly in formation.

References

Most of the buildings are named after the developers of the game. (refer to the Credits page)

When loading a city, one of the random things the loader says is "Pixelizing Nude Patch." This is a reference to nude patches for The Sims, some which even make the nudity more realistic.

Release history

The game was supposed to be released on January 14th, 2003. However, it was shipped to retailers before the release date, and they put it on shelves before the release date. EA got angry at the retailers, but let it go and dropped the release date.

Related Web Sites

Urban Planning For Fun and Simoleons (An Apple Games article (archived on the author's webpage) about the Macintosh version of SimCity 4, with commentary being provided by Producer Sean Decker (July, 2003).)